Sens, Habs and Leafs Headed in Different Directions

 No matter how well your team is going, as an NHL general manager, worry and anxiety are common bedfellows. Teams can be one major injury or a couple of poor goaltending outings away from singing sayonara to the post-season. Here in Eastern Ontario – and readers of this space will

Ottawa Hits its (Ull)mark, Draft Day Approaches and the Cup Comes Through Big Time

 It’s June 25th – you know, the heart of summer – and hockey continues to roll. The winter-ish sport enjoyed one of its busiest days during the past 24 hours with ramifications locally and across the continent. Let’s have a look.   BEST FINAL IN YEARS ENDS IN HIGH DRAMA?
Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios

‘Summer of Steve’ well underway

 Like the result or not, Step 1 in the Ottawa Senator ‘rebuild’ was accomplished lickety-split. The hiring of Travis Green just last week, while certainly not universally lauded, quickly took care of some much-needed business during what promises to be a busy off-season. Quite simply, there’s lots-to-do in Ottawa as

Are they listening, Jacques?

 It wasn’t an oil painting. Hell, it wasn’t even a decent watercolour effort. Baby steps though, right? Ottawa’s won back-to-back games under ‘new’ head coach Jacques Martin, and for at least one night (for most of the night anyway) the team that couldn’t-wouldn’t play collective defence if its life depended

The most despised team ‘in’ Ontario is . . . ?

 D. J. Smith . . . Now that I have your attention, let’s talk about common interests. (A little misdirection if you like, but quite frankly the D.J. Smith discussion is going great guns without my input, and so we’ll move into and onto a different battlefield. Besides: Gotcha!). Common

Bad habits just won’t go away – Senators

 Expectations can create resentments? Yep. Especially those darned unfulfilled ones. So when you’re the Ottawa Senators – the new golden child of the National Hockey League’s collective media as well as the club’s jacked and re-juiced fan base – and you watch what came about during the team’s last two

It’s here, it’s finally here

 Never let a good idea get untold . . . again? Well, it’s a damn good idea. With that in mind, after discovering Sportsnet’s National Hockey League regular season primer sitting on my laptop earlier this morning, my interest and ability to pilfer were fully engaged. In essence, the crew

Fresh Fish in The NHL’s Atlantic

 Last season the gun was jumped by this corner in regard to the ever-evolving Atlantic Division. Sure, the thing was evolving but not evolving as rapidly as we’d thought and forecasted. The young ones on the block – the Ottawa’s, Buffalo’s, and Detroit’s were on the move, but only incrementally.

Ottawa’s pipes are calling, while Leafs are done wilting

 Photo: Courtesy Columbus Dispatch The draft is done and the meat-and-guts of free agency – for the most part – in the National Hockey League is over and out. Some outstanding storylines emerged from an intense week of study and action. It’s never a dull time, league-wide, so let’s dip